Question about "strobist-style" lighting?

12 years 11 months ago #66969 by Pekkea 05
So, if you get the Cactus triggers and some third party flashes, and go full manual, how do you know what level of flash to use without a TTL setup to tell you? Is it a lot of trial and error? Or are there hand-held meters to help out? I guess what I want to know if there's any way to meter the upcoming flash, and adjust it fairly accurately before taking the shot.

If you do use mostly trial and error, how do you prevent from flashing the hell out of your subjects and burning through batteries? Or, once again, is that just part of the learning curve process?

I'm just getting into this, and have been learning about the gels, and the setups and stuff. Just wanted to know how hard it is really to start using a manual setup. I'm sure it really doesn't matter once you know what you're doing.


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12 years 11 months ago #66971 by Ali Stair
1. Setup...shoot...check image...make adjustments...shoot again...make more adjustments...etc
2. Check out the Sekonic line of light meters
If you're shooting a lot of strobist stuff you eventually learn what settings to start with for the type of shots you're trying for and then you make minor adjustments after a test shot or two. Over time you'll be able to get the exposure settings pretty close to what you want/need.


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12 years 11 months ago #66977 by Ohul8
if you're not metering, you just spend a lot of time taking shots, checking your histogram, and adjusting settings. And you don't want to start out running your flashes at full power.


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12 years 11 months ago #66979 by Pekkea 05
THe whole metering before the flash.. My thought was (with a meter) saying, "Okay, we ha've this light setting, so with one strobe straight on at 1/64th, and one on the back drop at full power, it should meter at ****. I was (I guess) asking if it was rather formulary to meter with off-camera light (like it is with the built-in flash), or if its way too dynamic and complicated to be calculated by a machine.


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